Behind Enemy Lines
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Theme Song for the 2020 Oiler PlayIn Wanna Bes:
This is a low hockey IQ team that was exposed in all areas by a champion led rebuilding team. With the Oilers core now in peak years performance the question must be asked if this team will ever learn from its mistakes; are they just needing to improve their discipline and commitment; or are they skilled low hockey IQ players who just won't overcome the deficiency to think the game well enough to win.
Forwards - all of this team's elites, McDavid, Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins showed deficiencies at points of the series in own zone plays that leaked goals and arguably cost games. Stuff happens but we did see how Toews plays and this points to continue refinement and commitment to more discipline in the Oil elite's own zone play as a growth priority. Offensive virtuosos but lots of improvement required in defending their own zone.
Biggest disappointments - Kassian (who I enthusiastically supported) showed exceptionally bad judgement off-ice as a recovering addict with his choice of friends as widely reported and his on-ice play-in effort was massively substandard for an organization that has invested heavily in him. He was an empty sweater and non-factor. Today's non-contact NHL and ticky tack refereeed series is a death knell for this player and it looks like the contract extension will be a boondoggle.
AA did not find his groove in Edmonton. He didn't bring any offensive to the series and looked tentative in his play dishing off passing in scoring zones and not asserting his skating and shooting abilities at all. I thought he had a very good final game and was snake bit. In the covid choked Cap, resigning is a tightrope with precious dollars at stake and weighed against the acquisition cost of two second round picks.
Yamamoto's inexperience was exposed in this series with aggressive, dumb penalties 200 feet from his own net. I can forgive the sins of the youth and believe this is a young player with the hockey smarts to process and learn from the responsibilities to contribute to top six and team success.
Other forwards were pretty meh revealing the limitations of this roster's deficiencies. That said the PK forwards were very good. But the support talent of this team is deficient as the struggle for timely goals outside the top elites is a persistent issue. I thought playoff hardened James Neal should have been given top line minutes when Kassian faded into nothingness. And the winger's own zone play was an issue with missing assignments not getting into the lanes of Hawk d-men to block shots or picking up open players.
Defense - Klefbom, Nurse, and Larssen are now veteran, peak year performers and I think what you see is what you get. The Hawks aggressive forecheck exposed average at best hockey IQ in these biggest minute defenders. They are second pairing d-men forced into two many minutes by a botched decade of poor drafting and management. I think all three are warriors but they are limited in their abililities. Klefbom miscast on the PP and prone to d-zone breakdowns; Nurse is a decent quality shutdown guy whose physical play and nastiness disappeared in this series (not helped but also not excused by ticky tack refereeing) - he's now expensive for what he brings and still shows inconsistency as a defender. Larssen, who I like, simply doesn't bring enough in a modern no hitter game which has made dinosaurs out of this style of rugged, nasty defender. He was missed however in this series. Russell was generally good despite too many minutes but his salary and age will need to be sacrificed for youth.
Bear is the future and a contemporary d-man who can process the game quickly and move the puck quickly and efficiently with good decision making. His youth and abilities were exposed at some critical moments of this series but that is a reflection of this franchise's failure at building a blueline over more than a decade of failure. Bear will learn and grow with this experience and his skill set will continue to grow his contributions as a cornerstone on this team. Jones hopefully can continue his growth to give this team some hope of mobile, puck movers who can help limit extended fire drill defensive zone play that has been an ongoing deficiency of this team for years. Hope and prayers are for some young skill-based defenders including Broberg, maybe Bouchard and others can push up over time the hockey IQ, mobility and skills of the Oiler d-corp which is the Achilles Heel.
Goaltending behind low IQ forwards and defense have to have the ability to cover for mistakes. The Oil battery of Kosko and Smith are average and just not good enough to make up for the prone to breakdowns in front of them. Will be interesting to see what, if anything, Holland might do this off-season with essentially no money to spend. Can they possibly bring Smith back???
Coaching that coaxed out elite PP and PK specialty teams, were goalie whisperers in managing two B tenders, and shaping a better team culture and belief in itself was just average in the short series against the Hawks. Tippett bet wrongly on his faith in Smith to start the series; he juggled first line RW but didn't land on playoff steeled Neal to slot in there which I feel was a mistake. He kept to his belief in a balanced top six with pairings of McDavid/RNH and Draisaitl/Yamamoto when it rightfully can be argued that RNH/Draisaitl/Yamamoto should have been reunited. That said, the stack used for regular season PP became unhinged against the Hawks and the personnel looked incredibly disorganized. I generally account for and credit players for about 80% of on-ice success or failure, so for me, I see the Chicago series as overwhelming failure of execution; lack of discipline; and system failure versus coaching.
I think at this point of organization development, it is now time to look at the hockey IQ of its roster and many of the group's core leadership group seem to be exposed in their limitations. Likely impossible and unlikely for wholesale changes this off season given the cap jail they're in (thanks again Chia!), but, I think there should be a clinical and cold, clear and honest assessment of this team's potential upside. Might be time to move one or more of the peak year's group. It's Hockey IQ above all in a no hit, ticky tack penalty and no-hitter contemporary world.
So you're Ken Holland, what do you do this off season to move this team into a playoff team (a real playoff team)??? Go!
This is a low hockey IQ team that was exposed in all areas by a champion led rebuilding team. With the Oilers core now in peak years performance the question must be asked if this team will ever learn from its mistakes; are they just needing to improve their discipline and commitment; or are they skilled low hockey IQ players who just won't overcome the deficiency to think the game well enough to win.
Forwards - all of this team's elites, McDavid, Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins showed deficiencies at points of the series in own zone plays that leaked goals and arguably cost games. Stuff happens but we did see how Toews plays and this points to continue refinement and commitment to more discipline in the Oil elite's own zone play as a growth priority. Offensive virtuosos but lots of improvement required in defending their own zone.
Biggest disappointments - Kassian (who I enthusiastically supported) showed exceptionally bad judgement off-ice as a recovering addict with his choice of friends as widely reported and his on-ice play-in effort was massively substandard for an organization that has invested heavily in him. He was an empty sweater and non-factor. Today's non-contact NHL and ticky tack refereeed series is a death knell for this player and it looks like the contract extension will be a boondoggle.
AA did not find his groove in Edmonton. He didn't bring any offensive to the series and looked tentative in his play dishing off passing in scoring zones and not asserting his skating and shooting abilities at all. I thought he had a very good final game and was snake bit. In the covid choked Cap, resigning is a tightrope with precious dollars at stake and weighed against the acquisition cost of two second round picks.
Yamamoto's inexperience was exposed in this series with aggressive, dumb penalties 200 feet from his own net. I can forgive the sins of the youth and believe this is a young player with the hockey smarts to process and learn from the responsibilities to contribute to top six and team success.
Other forwards were pretty meh revealing the limitations of this roster's deficiencies. That said the PK forwards were very good. But the support talent of this team is deficient as the struggle for timely goals outside the top elites is a persistent issue. I thought playoff hardened James Neal should have been given top line minutes when Kassian faded into nothingness. And the winger's own zone play was an issue with missing assignments not getting into the lanes of Hawk d-men to block shots or picking up open players.
Defense - Klefbom, Nurse, and Larssen are now veteran, peak year performers and I think what you see is what you get. The Hawks aggressive forecheck exposed average at best hockey IQ in these biggest minute defenders. They are second pairing d-men forced into two many minutes by a botched decade of poor drafting and management. I think all three are warriors but they are limited in their abililities. Klefbom miscast on the PP and prone to d-zone breakdowns; Nurse is a decent quality shutdown guy whose physical play and nastiness disappeared in this series (not helped but also not excused by ticky tack refereeing) - he's now expensive for what he brings and still shows inconsistency as a defender. Larssen, who I like, simply doesn't bring enough in a modern no hitter game which has made dinosaurs out of this style of rugged, nasty defender. He was missed however in this series. Russell was generally good despite too many minutes but his salary and age will need to be sacrificed for youth.
Bear is the future and a contemporary d-man who can process the game quickly and move the puck quickly and efficiently with good decision making. His youth and abilities were exposed at some critical moments of this series but that is a reflection of this franchise's failure at building a blueline over more than a decade of failure. Bear will learn and grow with this experience and his skill set will continue to grow his contributions as a cornerstone on this team. Jones hopefully can continue his growth to give this team some hope of mobile, puck movers who can help limit extended fire drill defensive zone play that has been an ongoing deficiency of this team for years. Hope and prayers are for some young skill-based defenders including Broberg, maybe Bouchard and others can push up over time the hockey IQ, mobility and skills of the Oiler d-corp which is the Achilles Heel.
Goaltending behind low IQ forwards and defense have to have the ability to cover for mistakes. The Oil battery of Kosko and Smith are average and just not good enough to make up for the prone to breakdowns in front of them. Will be interesting to see what, if anything, Holland might do this off-season with essentially no money to spend. Can they possibly bring Smith back???
Coaching that coaxed out elite PP and PK specialty teams, were goalie whisperers in managing two B tenders, and shaping a better team culture and belief in itself was just average in the short series against the Hawks. Tippett bet wrongly on his faith in Smith to start the series; he juggled first line RW but didn't land on playoff steeled Neal to slot in there which I feel was a mistake. He kept to his belief in a balanced top six with pairings of McDavid/RNH and Draisaitl/Yamamoto when it rightfully can be argued that RNH/Draisaitl/Yamamoto should have been reunited. That said, the stack used for regular season PP became unhinged against the Hawks and the personnel looked incredibly disorganized. I generally account for and credit players for about 80% of on-ice success or failure, so for me, I see the Chicago series as overwhelming failure of execution; lack of discipline; and system failure versus coaching.
I think at this point of organization development, it is now time to look at the hockey IQ of its roster and many of the group's core leadership group seem to be exposed in their limitations. Likely impossible and unlikely for wholesale changes this off season given the cap jail they're in (thanks again Chia!), but, I think there should be a clinical and cold, clear and honest assessment of this team's potential upside. Might be time to move one or more of the peak year's group. It's Hockey IQ above all in a no hit, ticky tack penalty and no-hitter contemporary world.
So you're Ken Holland, what do you do this off season to move this team into a playoff team (a real playoff team)??? Go!
